Your ride is measured by a Visual Rating of 10 stars. The more detailed your ride, the higher the rating goes. Smartly, EA also tied in the visual rating to progression. For instance, you have to reach a certain star quota to be on the cover of a magazine, which is a requirement of a sponsor. It's all intelligently connected.

So, if you just wanted to race, you'll find EA has plans for you to explore the import tuning culture one way or another. But it's worth it. Honestly, I have little interest in modding cars. Here, I was encouraged to have fun with it. While my first car was sleek and trim (foregoing anything garish and too time-consuming), my second car was flamboyant and colorful (OK, garish), and creating it was way more enjoyable.

Last, you progress by completing a level (which consists of the requirements of the sponsor and a few other races). There are five overall and each one ups the difficulty of AI, and the rewards of your sponsor always include a free car -- almost always faster and sleeker than the one you're driving.

In short, EA has managed to create one of the best, most robust and efficient progression systems in this generation of racers -- even if the city itself feels like an empty shell. The details are lengthy, so I'll be semi-brief: You can use a GPS system to find the race you want, the Dpad is incredibly handy in showing a detailed map of races and garages, and the map's customizable and visually easy to use. Having played a lot of Gran Turismo 3 A-spec and many other menu-heavy racing games, this one comes up aces. Navigating this massive city and simply enabling you get to all the stats, races, and spots you need to get to is great. Too bad the city itself isn't all that interesting to explore. That, and I really wished there were more freeway exits. There were so many times I was stuck on the freeway passing up a race spot, but I couldn't get off the freeway.

The drag races have more obstacles, more chances to die.

Off To The Races EA's 30-plus cars are good in some ways, bad in others. Several of the rides are quite desirable, including the new Ford Mustang and the Nissan 350Z. But you'll have to wait and earn those. And you'll have to seriously upgrade any vehicle to get a good sense of speed. That takes a while, too. The other vehicles are just plain average and it's a wonder anyone would want to drive them. Surely, some are classic mod specialties, but from a strict racing perspective, the Toyota Corolla? Eck. Anyway, you'll start with the lower ranking set and, as you win, faster, more popular cars appear.

All of the cars in NFSU2 are licensed, from the Toyotas to the Nissans to the Hyundais and Cadillacs. While from an import tuner perspective, the addition of SUVs and trucks might be "kewl," driving these beasts is an exercise in misery, sluggishness, and horrific handling. You might want to "challenge" yourself with some of these, but you may also want to throw yourself off a cliff (and you can take your Cadillac Navigator with you).

The Street X races are a mixture of skill and excitement, wanton rage and sheer trial and error gameplay. The AI in Street X races is set to agro, which is fine, but they're cheap too. It's an all-out smash-'em-up derby, and sometimes the randomness goes your way, other times not. The same goes for the drag races. They are longer, have more stuff in them, and control with a more regimented steering mechanism. You tap the Dpad to switch lanes, and when in one, you're loosely magnetized to that lane. Instead of cross traffic there is oncoming traffic and roadblocks and random obstacles are more commonplace. Sadly, there are no more jumps. It's different than NFS, but after a few races, it's actually just as good.